Karon Kehoe

Karon Kehoe (19 September 1919–9 March 2011) was an American writer. She is best known for her 1946 novel City in the Sun, one of the earliest novels to describe the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. She worked for the War Relocation Authority at the Gila River War Relocation Center, and utilized her experience of working there in writing the novel.

Early life and career Karon Kehoe was born on 19 September 1919, and was a native of Detroit, Michigan. Karon was in a same sex relationship with Monika Kehoe and changed her surname to Kehoe as she did not like her birth name. They declared themselves as half-sisters to avoid unwanted attention to their relationship. The couple lived in the San Pedro locality in Los Angeles. Karon was involved in organizing recreational activities for youth while Monika took evening classes for war workers and migrants. Karon initially worked as the secretary to the chief of internal security and a telephone switchboard operator. In December 1943, she transferred to the Adult Education Department, which was headed by Monika since September 1943. Karen later stated that the racial tensions in California prompted them to moving to Gila River. In early 1945, Kehoe submitted the manuscript for the Intercollegiate Literary Fellowship offered by Dodd, Mead and Company. When she received the fellowship, she took a year's leave from college to complete the novel. Japanese American reviewers such as Guyo Tajiri and Miné Okubo gave positive reviews on the book.

Later life and legacy City in the Sun was Karon's only published novel. During the 1950s, she worked as an editor for a women's magazine in New York, and in the 1970s she taught at a high school in Natick, Massachusetts. She died on 9 March 2011, and by the time of her death, her novel had largely fallen into obscurity.